Au réveillon, nous parlons doucement à table pour ne pas réveiller le bébé.

Here, le réveillon refers to a festive late-evening meal or celebration, especially on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve.

So Au réveillon means something like at the holiday dinner / during the réveillon.

Also, au is the contraction of à + le:

• à le réveillon → au réveillon

This expression does not mean when waking up. Even though it is related to words like réveil and réveiller, le réveillon is a special noun used for this celebration.

In French, à + le normally contracts to au.

For example:

• à + le restaurant → au restaurant
• à + le réveillon → au réveillon

This is a standard grammar rule, not an optional style choice.

Because the subject is nous, so the verb must match nous.

The infinitive is parler. In the present tense:

• je parle
• tu parles
• il/elle/on parle
• nous parlons
• vous parlez
• ils/elles parlent

So nous parlons means we speak / we are speaking.

French often uses the present tense the same way English does:

• for something happening now
• for a general situation
• for a repeated or typical action

So nous parlons doucement can mean:

• we are speaking softly or
• we speak softly

The exact nuance depends on context.

Doucement is an adverb, and in French many adverbs are placed after the conjugated verb.

So:

• nous parlons doucement

This is very natural French word order.

In English, adverbs are often flexible:

• we speak softly
• we softly speak is much less natural

In French, nous doucement parlons would be wrong here.

Literally, doucement means gently, softly, or slowly, depending on context.

In this sentence, because it is about speaking and not waking a baby, doucement means softly / quietly.

Other ways French might express this idea are:

• à voix basse = in a low voice
• tout bas = quietly, in a low voice

But doucement works well here.

À table means at the table or at the meal table.

It is a common expression in French. Here it tells us where the action happens:

• nous parlons doucement à table = we speak softly at the table

Do not confuse it with:

• sur la table = on the table

So:

• à table = sitting/eating at the table
• sur la table = physically on top of the table

Because in French, when ne... pas negates an infinitive, the two parts usually go before the infinitive together:

• pour ne pas réveiller
• afin de ne pas oublier
• sans ne pas... is usually not used that way, so be careful

So the structure here is:

• pour = in order to
• ne pas réveiller = not to wake

Together:

• pour ne pas réveiller le bébé = in order not to wake the baby

Because after pour, French commonly uses the infinitive to express purpose.

Pattern:

• pour + infinitive = in order to + verb

Examples:

• pour manger = to eat
• pour dormir = to sleep
• pour réveiller le bébé = to wake the baby
• pour ne pas réveiller le bébé = in order not to wake the baby

So réveiller stays in the infinitive because it is part of the purpose expression.

French uses articles much more often than English does.

So where English may say:

• wake the baby or sometimes just
• wake baby in a special style,

French normally says:

• réveiller le bébé

The definite article le is the standard choice here because the baby is specific and known in the situation.

Yes, they are related.

They all come from the idea of waking:

• le réveil = waking up / alarm clock
• réveiller = to wake someone up
• le réveillon = originally something like a late evening gathering or meal where people stay awake; now it refers to the festive holiday meal

So there is a family resemblance in meaning, even though le réveillon has a special cultural use.

A helpful approximation is:

ray-vay-YON

A few pronunciation notes:

• é sounds like ay
• ill in réveillon gives a y sound here
• the ending -on is a nasal sound, so the n is not pronounced like a full English n

And réveiller is roughly:

ray-vay-YAY

French pronunciation varies a little by accent, but those approximations are good for learners.

Because Au réveillon is placed at the beginning as a time expression.

French often uses a comma after a fronted time or setting phrase, especially when it sets the scene:

• Le matin, je bois du café.
• En été, il fait chaud.
• Au réveillon, nous parlons doucement...

The comma is very natural here, although punctuation can sometimes vary depending on style.

Yes. In everyday spoken French, on parle is often more common than nous parlons for we speak.

So a very natural spoken version would be:

• Au réveillon, on parle doucement à table pour ne pas réveiller le bébé.

But nous parlons is completely correct and often appears in careful speech, writing, or textbook French.

Yes. It expresses purpose: the reason they are speaking softly.

Main idea:

• nous parlons doucement à table = what they do

Purpose:

• pour ne pas réveiller le bébé = why they do it

So the sentence structure is basically:

• At the réveillon, we speak softly at the table in order not to wake the baby.

Yes. The sentence would still be grammatically correct without it:

• Au réveillon, nous parlons doucement pour ne pas réveiller le bébé.

Adding à table simply gives more detail about the setting. It makes the image more specific: they are speaking softly while at the table during the meal.